Heating system



Sept. Z6, 1939. l L. SMITH 4 3 nmwme SYSTEM Original F iled Sefiu. l, 1951 4 a z z 4 2 Z I f 72 Z 80 m Z A l/IIl/I I/IIIIIIA Z /9 u llllllllllliilll|IIIlllliilllllllllllll a5 ya 27 226 a? 'Patented Sept. 26, 1939 PATENT OFFICE 2,174,333 'nna'rme SYSTEM Lewis Smith, Pelham, N. Y., lssignorto Henry G. Schaei'er, New York, N. Y. Y

Original application'scptember 1, 1937, Serial No. 161,957., Divided and thisapplication April 19, 1938, Serial No. 202,870

. 3 Claims.

This invention relates to heating systems lor buildings and particularly, though not exclusive- 1y, to heating systems for apartment houses, ho-

tels, hospitals and like buildings which have a 5 considerable number of rooms and floors.

Savings in material, ready installation and low initial cost are prime considerations in the design of heating systems. It is the aim and object of the present invention to devise a heating system which has these desirable features to a remarks able extent.

This application is a division of my copending agplication Serial No. 161,957, filed September 1,

Before explaining in detail the present invention it is to be understood. that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and arrangement of parts illustrated in the accompanying drawings, since the an invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced or carried out in various ways. Also it is to be understood that the phraseology or terminology employed herein is for the purpose of description and not "of limitation, and it is not'intended to limit the invention claimed herein beyond the requirements of the prior art. In the drawing: v Fig. 1 is a fragmentary diagrammatic view of an installed heating system which embodies the present invention.

Fig. 2 isa front elevation, partly in section, of a type of radiator which may be used with particular advantage in the-present system.

Referring to Fig. 1 of the drawing, the reference numeral l designates a building which may be an apartment house, a hotel, an office building, a hospital or a private home. In the present instance, the building is shown as having a basement II and three'floors l2, However, the

without impairing the adaptability of the present heating. system to it. At I3 is shown a steam main which-derives itssteam from any suitable i lost through'the roof n. The condu t 14 s thenbuilding may have a different number of floors carried over to an adjacent larger room It on the top floor, such as a bed room, living room or the like,,and is then carried down as a down feed riser" Mb through the other rooms I8 on the various floors I2 and into the basement where it 5 is connected to the, usual return min I! through a conventional rdrip trap Isa. The'down-feed riser Mb is connected in series with a radiator or radiators 20 in each room I 8. These radiators may be of the. inexpensive, yet durable construction disclosed in Fig. 2, and provide a metal cabinet or shell 2|. The heating element 22 consists of a conduit 23' which has its heat-exchange surface augmented by a'spiral fln' 2|, for instance. 'The downf eed riser llb is connected with the heating element 22 of each radiator byany suitable means such as the elbows 25. No' valve or trap is used in this type radiator. "Ihe radiator shell 2| is provided with. an opening 26 in its bottom wall 2-! through which air may enter, flow 20 past the heating element 22 and escape through a shutter 28 into the room. A knob 29 may be provided for manipulating the shutter between entirely closed position and wide openposition to thereby regulate the escape of heated air from inside the radiator shell and the admission of I cooler air thereinto. Y

Any suitable control system may be used in the present heating system. Among others, the automatic control system which forms the subject matter of my aforesaid copending applicationcan be used with special advantage by maintain ing a substantially constant low vacuum of perhaps 15 inches of mercury column in the entire piping system, including the return main l9, and by installing ,the radiator thermostat of my automatic control system in the radiator which 18 nearest to the return main I! in Fig. 1. In that way, fractional filling of the radiators is avoided because the radiator thermostat prevents the steam temperature at the end of the system from falling below a predetermined value and causes admission of steam'to the system until even the last radiator "thereof carries steam of suiiiciently high temperature to heat the room in which it is located without overheating the various rooms. Also, the condensate in the return main" may be removed therefrom by a vacuum pump, and a partial vacuummay be created-in the up-reed so? and down'feedsections Ila and Ilb oftheriser l4 by throttling a main steam valve in the basement of the building. This main stem valve y be motor driven and automatically conti'Qlledin any suitable manner as by a thermostat shown) may be carried from the bend I6 over to the topmost room 30 to the right of the room liaand then down through the rooms underneath (not shown) and the radiators therein in exactly the same fashion as the illustrated down-feed riser Hb in Fig. 1.

It is also within the present scheme to car more than one up-feed riser through rooms which do not obtain sufiicientheat from a single up-feed riser, and then branch over to adjacent rooms to the down-feed risers.

The present invention is not intended to be limited to the passage of the up-feed riser or risers through rooms in a building for the purpose of heating these rooms without radiators. In some cases, it may be preferred to have a steam main at the top floor of the building and to connect a plurality of down-feed risers oi the same arrangement as the one shown in Fig. 1 with said steam main. Steam from any suitable source may be conducted to the steam main at the top floor in any convenient manner as by heat-insulated riser. The use of the disclosed down-feed riser in itself secures very valuable advantages without the benefit of the heating function of the up-feed riser, as will be hereinafter explained.

The down-feed riser llb which connects the radiators 20 in series may also be concealed and even heat-insulated, if desired.

The sectionalizing of the entire heating system of a building in so many up-feed risers and therefrom branching down-feed risers is a matter which varies greatly with different buildings and depends largely on the proportions of the large rooms, the proportion between the number of small rooms and the number of large rooms, and the exposure of certain rooms.

In conclusion, the present heating system has the following advantages over the conventional heating systems:

A minimum of piping because the return line is herein used as a down-feed steam line;

A minimum number of expensive fittings, valves and traps; a

' Well concealed heat-exchange elements of the radiators; 4 r

Utilization of as much of the piping system as a heating surface as is consistent with the architecture of the building, and attainin economy. of additional heating surface required, spacetaken up by the system and heat-insulating material required:

. Elimination of branch piping, either exposed or concealed, and hence elimination of stoppages and corrosion which shortens the life and impairs the operation of piped systems, particularly when pipes and fittings of smaller sizes are 2,174.,aaa

-, which is so constructed as to be sufliciently flexible safely to take up the expansion and contraction strains in the pipes and thus eliminate expansion joints or bends.

These and other advantages are inherent in the present heating system. The system of piping may be either for up or down feed, or for both. The radiators are made a part of the piping system by forming substantially horizontal (slightly inclined for condensate escape) ofi'sets of the steam-feeding riser, and they require neither valves nor traps. The radiators are preferably locatedunder windows and made of such length that the vertical sections of the riser are located beyond the daylight openings of said windows and may conveniently alternate on the several floors of the building on opposit sides of the windows as shown in Fig. 1.

While the heat available for emission by each radiator may be controlled by regulating the pressure of the steam in the system in any well known manner to such an extent as to prevent fuel waste through excessive overheating, the heat output of any one radiator is further adjustable within limits defined by the manually adjustable shutter or damper in the radiator shell, permitting of variation of the quantity of air admitted into said shell and, hence, theoutput of heated air therefrom.

It is to be understood that the present invention is not limited to the'alternate disposition of the down-feed riser sections Mb on opposite sides of the radiators 20 as shown in Fig. l.'

Thus, where the down-feed riser Nb connects radiators which are located beneath one of two continuous corner windows in two rectangular walls of a room on each floor, and an exposed riser in the corner between these windows is undesirable, the riser sections llb on the different floors are disposed in longitudinal alignment with each other and to one side of said one window and remote from said corner. In that case, the lateral offset of the riser is immediately returned into realignment with the riser sections b, so that the riser extends through the radiators in form of a loop, preferably of hairpin shape.

I claim:

1. The steam heating system for a building having rooms arranged one above another, which comprises a riser passing downwardly from the top of the building heated by the system and having lateral offsets individually constituting a radiator in each room heated by the system, means for supplying steam to the riser at the top thereof, the lateral offsets and intervening portions of the riser connected thereto constituting a complete, the sole possible and pennanently uninterrupted path of flow for the steam, condensate and air in the same direction from the steam supplying means to the return end of the ,system, and casings enclosing said. lateral offsets, respectively, each casing having means for controlling the flow of air therethrough and consequently the amount of heat supplied to each room.

2. The steam heating system for a building having series of overlying rooms, comprising an up-feed riser passing through the rooms of one series to the topmost room thereof and being exposed in said rooms to heat the same, a downstituting a radiator, the up-feed riser andthe It down-iced riser with its lateral oii'sets co tuting'a complete, the sole possible and permanently uninterrupted :path of iiow for the steam,

condensate and air from the steam supply to the return end or the system whereby'all of said radiators are simultaneously heated by the steam flowing through the radiators successively, and casings enclosing said lateral oi'ifsets, each casing having means for controlling the now of air therethrough and consequently the amount of heat supplied to each room 01' said other series.

3. The heating system for a building having roo'msarranged one above another, which comprises a riser passing downwardly from the top of the part of the building heated by the system and having lateral oiisets individually constituting a radiator in each room heated by the system, means for supplying steam to the riser at the top thereot. the lateraloflsets and intervening portions 01' said riser connected thereto constituting a complete, the sole possible and permanently uninterrupted path of flow for the steam, condensate and air in the same direction from the steam' supplying means to the return end of the system, and casings enclosing said lateral oflsets, respectively, each casing having means for controlling the flow oi.' air therethrough and consequently the amount of heat supplied to each room, and said casings and their respective lateral oii'sets being separate units connectible with said intervening portions or the riser.

- LEWIS SMITH. 

